History Main / RelativelyFlimsyExcuse

* In TerryPratchett's ''{{Strata}}'', it's a running gag that when people ask the protagonist for her autograph, they always claim it's for a relative, not for themselves.

* On the ''AmericanDad'' two-parter where the family goes to Saudi Arabia, Haley is going to be arrested for [[NoWomansLand being outside her home without a man]] when a random Saudi man comes forward and claims to be her brother. Possibly based on the ''Aladdin'' example above, especially since he winds up being her BoyOfTheWeek.
* In ''CodeLyoko'', after Aelita is retrieved from the virtual world, she had no known family or history that can be freely divulged without breaking TheMasquerade. To deal with this, the crew passed her off as Odd's cousin. She also had a FakeOutMakeOut with Odd in a later episode, but the issue was never addressed beyond that.

* Played with in one episode of ''{{Futurama}},'' when Fry tries to deflect attention from what the Professor is saying by claiming that "Grandpa" is a bit senile. The Professor then angrily points out that he's not Fry's grandfather, Fry is actually is great-great-etc.-grandfather from a thousand years in the past...which of course, [[RefugeInAudacity just makes Fry's lie seem more accurate]].

* In ''PrincessProtectionProgram'' Carter has to pretend that Rosie is her cousin.

* [[AlienAmongUs Ax]] is introduced as Jake's "cousin Phillip" when he tries to visit their school in {{Animorphs}}, though to be fair, [[VoluntaryShapeshifting his disguise]] does include DNA from Jake and his actual cousin. They don't seem to think about the fact that Jake's brother and their school's vice principal are both enslaved by the mind-controlling aliens the Animorphs are fighting and could tear this story apart if they were to encounter "Phillip" ... Though this could be justified in that Jake's brother doesn't seem to go to their school and the vice principal presumably doesn't have every student's family tree memorized.

* In ''TheLastUnicorn'', Schmendrick tells King Haggard that the Lady Amalthea is his niece. Haggard doesn't believe him, but he doesn't really care.

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* [[AlienAmongUs Ax]] is introduced as Jake's "cousin Phillip" when he tries to visit their school in {{Animorphs}}, though to be fair, [[VoluntaryShapeshifting his disguise]] does include DNA from Jake and his actual cousin.

* In ''{{Superbook}}'', a Bible character who met Chris and Joy when she was younger remarks about this, and they claim to be their own descendants, rather than explain that they have this book that sends them back to different points in Bible times.

* [[AliensAmongUs Ax]] is introduced as Jake's "cousin Phillip" when he tries to visit their school in {{Animorphs}}, though to be fair, [[VoluntaryShapshifting his disguise]] does include DNA from Jake and his actual cousin.

* In ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} Breaking Dawn]]'', Edward tells Bella's father that Renesme is his niece that they're adopting. The kid is obviously their own, as she looks like Edward with Bella's eyes, but Charlie goes along with it because he doesn't want to know how they conceived and had a toddler within one month.
* TheBible has Abraham lie about Sara, his wife, and claims that she's only his sister in Egypt and Gerar (which is in his case, only bending the truth, as she is also his father's daughter), because he fears he would get killed out of jealousy by the king. Isaac does the same in Gerar with his wife.
* In ''TheLastUnicorn'', Schmendrick tells King Haggard that the Lady Amalthea is his niece. Haggard doesn't believe him, but he doesn't really care.

* {{Angel}} once claimed that Cordelia was "family" to get into the hospital after she had a psychotic breakdown. This was also played as him [[FriendsLikeFamily seeing her as family despite not being related.]]

* In HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi, this is Rika's explanation for Hanyuu (as a cousin). Not too far off - [[spoiler:she is related. Just her great grandmother from at a bare minimum eight generations back]].
* Rito tells people Lala is a distant relative in ToLoveRu. No one really pays any attention to this fact, seeing as she loudly declared that she was his bride, and it's not like she's subtle in her affections either, subverting the whole point of the lie. (As an excuse to why they are living together.)

* In ''WendyWu:HomecomingWarrior'' Wendy tells everyone at school that Shen is her cousin.

* In the film version of {{Chicago}}, Roxie tells a neighbor that Fred Casely is her brother.

* In ''Aladdin,'' Aladdin saves Princess Jasmine from getting her hand cut off for accidental thievery by jumping in and claiming that his "sister" gets confused sometimes.

* In TerryPratchett's ''Strata'', it's a running gag that when people ask the protagonist for her autograph, they always claim it's for a relative, not for themselves.

[[AC: Theater]]
* In ''{{Rent}}'' the lesbian couple claim to be sisters on occasion. Keep in mind that they are of different races.

* Rito tells people Lala is a distant relative in ToLoveRu. No one really pays any attention to this fact, seeing as she loudly declared that she was his bride, and it's not like she's sutble in her affections either, subverting the whole point of the lie. (As an excuse to why they are living together.)

* In ''[[{{Twilight}} Breaking Dawn]]'', Edward tells Bella's father that Renesme is his niece that they're adopting. The kid is obviously their own, as she looks like Edward with Bella's eyes, but Charlie goes along with it because he doesn't want to know how they conceived and had a toddler within one month.

** And later on, when a Troll officer is ordered to stop [[UnstoppableRage Sgt. Detritus]] he instantly asks to go to his grandmother's funeral. Colon questions it, and he responds, "It's her or me, Sarge."

Such excuses are generally not very believable and tend to rely on the listener not knowing enough about the subject or the so-called relative to be able to discredit it, but few characters even consider seeing through them.

-->'''Random Co-Worker:''' Hey, Sully, is the kid yours?//
'''Sullivan:''' No! She's, uh...//
'''Mike:''' She's his...brother's niece!//

* Done in ''[[HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows]]'' the seventh Harry Potter book, when Harry pretends to be Ron's cousin at Bill's wedding. Possibly subverted in that though Harry takes Polyjuice Potion, the kid he's mimicking is just a red-headed boy from the town the Weasleys live near, not an actual Weasley. It works pretty well though- so well that one of Ron's uncles wonders if Harry's his son.

* In ''BackToTheFuture'', Marty [=McFly=] introduces Doc Brown to his teenage mother as his "uncle".

* Done in [[HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows]] the seventh Harry Potter book, when Harry pretends to be Ron's cousin at Bill's wedding. Possibly subverted in that though Harry takes Polyjuice Potion, the kid he's mimicking is just a red-headed boy from the town the Weasleys live near, not an actual Weasley. It works pretty well though- so well that one of Ron's uncles wonders if Harry's his son.

* Subverted by one episode of ''{{Futurama}}'' in that Fry claims the Professor is his grandfather. In reality, Fry is the Professor's uncle from the year 2000, something the Professor lampshades.

* In ''{{Rent}}'' the lesbian couple claim to be sisters on occasion.